European media industry competition with tech giants

Leaders of major European media companies are calling for increased cooperation and stricter regulation to combat the dominance of international technology platforms.

Marco Giordani, CEO of ProSiebenSat.1, advocated for strategic alliances among traditional media firms to achieve the scale necessary for marketing and product development. He highlighted an existing partnership with the public broadcaster ZDF, which will expand content availability on the Joyn streaming platform in November, and expressed interest in further domestic alliances.

Mario Rodríguez, president of Mediaset España, focused on the regulatory challenges posed by tech companies. He argued that while European regulations for fair audience measurement exist, enforcement remains ineffective. Rodríguez compared the current landscape to a “highway without speed cameras,” noting that traditional media must verify all viewers while tech giants sell advertising based on unverified, self-measured data. He warned that this imbalance threatens the survival of television networks and newspapers.